The billionaires hedge their bets
The owners and CEOs of America’s biggest platforms are playing nice with Trump. And it could come back to haunt them Thousands of top tech executives, journalists, academics and civil society workers read our reporting on — and analysis of — the day's biggest events at the intersection of technology and democracy. Two years ago on Sunday, Elon Musk completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter. For most other business leaders, what followed would have been a disaster. Users fled and advertisers followed; Musk tried to sue them back onto the platform. A push into subscriptions flopped. The company has now lost 80 percent of its value. That hasn’t mattered to Musk, though, for two reasons. One is that Musk is the world’s richest man, with a net worth of $270 billion. His paper wealth grew $30 billion on Thursday alone, thanks to a skyrocketing Tesla stock, papering over any Twitter losses over the course of an afternoon. The second reason is that X, as he renamed the platform, is now les
Two years ago on Sunday, Elon Musk completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter . For most other business leaders, what followed would have been a disaster. Users fled and advertisers followed; Musk tried to sue them back onto the platform . A push into subscriptions flopped. The company has now lost 80 percent of its value . That hasn’t mattered to Musk, though, for two reasons. One is that Musk is the world’s richest man, with a net worth of $270 billion. His paper wealth grew $30 billion on Thursday alone , thanks to a skyrocketing Tesla stock, papering over any Twitter losses over the cou
Explore this link on the map →related reading
- Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
- Opinion: Elon Musk’s move threatens to bring Trump back to the White House | CNNcnn.com
- Pluralistic: Tiktok’s enshittification (21 Jan 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorowpluralistic.net
- Broligarchy's Faustian Deal - by Agustin Rossiagustinrossi.substack.com
- The Cult of the Founders — Crooked Timbercrookedtimber.org
- Tech Power and the Crisis of Democracy | TechPolicy.Presstechpolicy.press
- Techmemetechmeme.com
- We're ruled by Losers - by J. P. Hill - New Meansjphilll.com
- What Happened in Elon Musk’s Shady Meeting With Rupert Murdoch? | The New Republicnewrepublic.com
- AI vs. the Pentagon - by Jasmine Sun - @jasmine’s substackjasmi.news
- Trump signs executive order targeting social media companies | CNN Politicscnn.com
- Elon Musk - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org